Concrete pouring for Russia's Leningrad 7 nuclear unit foundations completed ahead of schedule

Construction of a new Russian nuclear unit at the Leningrad plant has reached its first major milestone. After three months, technicians completed pouring the reactor foundation slab, more than two months ahead of schedule. Rosatom officially began construction of Unit 7 at the Leningrad plant this March. The unit, with an installed capacity of 1200 MW, is due to enter commercial operation in 2030.

Russia's energy company Rosatom announced that its technicians had completed pouring the foundations for the reactor building of Unit 7 at the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant. Construction crews used around five and a half thousand cubic metres of concrete for this phase. Official construction of the VVER-1200 unit, with an installed capacity of 1200 MW and a 60-year service life, began this March.

“The recipe for a durable and strong foundation for a reactor building is simple: high-quality raw materials in the concrete mix in the right proportions, continuous pouring of the concrete mix, and proper care of the concrete until it has fully cured. It is also important for the work to be carried out by highly qualified construction personnel,” said Konstantin Khudyakov, director of the Leningrad NPP delivery programme at TITAN-2 CONCERN JSC.

Construction of the reactor building is scheduled to take around five and a half years (65 months). Completion of the concrete pouring was two and a half months ahead of the construction schedule. Rosatom therefore hopes to finish the entire project early as well. By this autumn, construction crews plan to strengthen the concrete foundations by a further 1.5 metres, after which they will begin building the inner containment shell.

Commissioning by 2030

The Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant is divided into two parts. The first had four RBMK-1000 reactors dating from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Only Units 3 and 4 are currently in operation, and Rosatom plans to shut them down over the next two years.

Russia began construction of the plant's second part, also comprising four units, this time of the VVER-1200 type, in 2008. Two units have so far been commissioned, in 2018 and 2021. Unit 7 (the third unit in the second part) is scheduled to enter commercial operation in 2030, while construction of the plant's final unit is expected to begin next year.

“A good pace of construction and an uncompromising commitment to high quality will shorten the construction time for the reactor building as a whole. Given our experience building Units 5 and 6, and the availability of the necessary materials, equipment, documentation and personnel, we have a chance to finish early. This means we will also install the equipment, commission it and carry out testing ahead of schedule,” said Rosatom CEO Alexander Shutikov.